Fate raised its eyebrow at me, a coy smile cracking the edge of their lips. No sooner had I got a grip on a pleasant normal, it was wrenched away. Born for this, or at least forced to partake in some destiny against my own will. Perhaps I secretly enjoyed it. If that were true, then I’d have to have words. With myself.

I worked my jaw, the weight of the sentence still laboring my shoulders. “What did you say?”

“Bombs, to corrupt the mortals.” Hoff lowered his head, avoiding my gaze in case I had a way to erase his existence with my glare. If only.

It wasn’t as though I had misheard him. I just didn’t want those words in that order to continue being the truth. I sunk back in the chair and exhaled. Removed my glasses to pinch at the bridge of my nose and rub my eyes. The Lowers weren’t fun, after all.

[Where are they being taken? Are there more portals?]

The dragon-like demon shrugged. “I just get told where to take them. Once they’re out of my hands…”

“I get it.” Glasses back over my eyes, so I could see the fine detail of the finer mess we had gotten ourselves into. I could almost taste how granular it was. Ready to muddy my hands and become the blur of crimson and-

[Eric, are you fine?]

My eyebrow raised. “Yeah.” I gave him a glum grin. Pearl had told me not to be too noir, and here I was, despite the fact. Reality just seemed to find it amusing when I had tribulations to be morose over. “We need to know where these were being taken. Can you get a runic location from our new bud here?”

[Certainly, Eric.]

//Should I relay this info to the Org?

I grimaced. “Yeah, go ahead.” As much as I hated them dabbling in my business, this was a few levels more serious than we were used to. If I held this on my own shoulders, it wasn’t just my life that was on the line. I didn’t even know what a corruption bomb would do to a normal human.

Normal human, such an alien phrase. I could guess, certainly. Mutation, insanity, and death. That was at least what could happen to low level Hunters in the Hells. That they intended to enact such wanton destruction on the mortal plane was beyond the pale. Straight into white-hot anger. Demons usually kept to themselves, but it seemed there were more heads that needed cracking open.

//Sent it over, hold for further instruction.

[Location received, I am not familiar with the destination.]

That stood to reason. It would make a nice change to go somewhere that we hadn’t before. “Alright. Hoff, we are going to let you go into the custody of Redd Death here. You’ll be employed by the gang and treated fairly. Try any dumb shit and they’ll eat you.”

I turned my head back to the croc closest. “That understood?”

“Yes, boss,” they both grunted.

Hoff’s forked tongue licked around his lips nervously. “Not that I don’t appreciate your mercy, but why? You’re a Hunter?”

“I’m a lot more than that,” I said with a grin. “And no, I’m not going to elaborate. You can untie him, Wight. We’ll be going soon, no doubt.”

[As you wish, Eric.]

I watched the bird-demon walk over and cut the bonds with his blade. Hoff winced as his scaled hands became free.

“I’m… honestly at a loss for words.” He bowed his head.

Intrusive thoughts almost won, and my hand twitched toward my revolver. Could easily just end the three demons in the room, feel nothing for it. No dopamine or contentedness for the action. They were weak, beneath me. As much as all demons needed to die, the odd one or two could live if it helped my goals. My jaw worked in thought.

It was just a natural extension—I worked closely with Wight already, and did other things close with Pearl. The Org might put a stop to me building an empire in the Lowers, but I was infamous now. I might as well use that to make life a little easier.

“Hey,” I turned my head back to the crocs. “Grak’huk. Who is the best person to talk with in the gang for like… who runs the gang when I’m not breathing down your neck?”

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“That’d probably be Korc, boss.”

I nodded my thanks. That was the one I had met outside the nightclub and started the whole farce. Convenient that it was a familiar name, but perhaps that’s just how these things worked. “Wight, do we have a way to send messages through Hell? That doesn’t involve you gargling blood?”

He cupped his beak in thought, looking slightly toward the ceiling as if really considering my question.

[I would need the Korc’s blood, but I may be able to create a connection if I can speak with the Passage.]

//Passage says he is fine with that.

“Great.” I clapped my hands together. A plan had started to whirl around my head. The Org hadn’t given me the green light on anything, but when had I ever let a little red tape stop me from painting the scenery the same color? “Grak’huk, how many gang members do we have in Misery?”

“About thirteen, boss, including us two.”

“Perfect.” A wide grin spread across my face. “Hoff, it’s time to earn your stay.”

----------------------------------------

//I’m not entirely sure this is a good idea, Eric.

[The Rodney has a point.]

I glared at the two red eyes across from me in the darkness. The wagon we were in lurched and I gripped the side of the bomb container a little tighter. Sure, it wasn’t the most risk-adverse plan I had come up with. But I had an overabundance of hubris that needed tempering. This seemed like an efficient way of doing that.

[What do you plan to do when we get to the destination?]

“Same thing we do every day, Wight. Kill all demons.” My brow furrowed, and I turned to the croc-demon sitting in this wagon with us. “Present company excepted.”

//Org won’t be happy if you mess things up and nuke yourself.

Think about how I’d feel about that. Probably worse. Although, part of me thought I might be able to resist the corruption if one of them went off. I narrowed my eyes at the wide container in the middle of us. It might be easy to test that theory. The wagon lurched again, and those thoughts fell from my head and to the shadowed floor.

“I know they don’t want a loose cannon. And we are delivering the payload to the intended destination. Ah…” There was a ‘but’ coming. It wasn’t where I expected it to be, however. “But… things will be okay.”

[Well, I am certainly convinced.]

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. The Org would just tell me to go here and dismantle whatever demon had organized this whole thing. If we were lucky, this would be the place where the portal was and we could raze the plan to the ground. Going in incognito amongst the wagons, replacing the dragon-like demons with my croc gang—that seemed like a smart decision.

It was certainly different. The rough journey had given me time to reflect on the choices. I had spent a lot of time going solo—or with Wight—but now was content to use other demons to assist me. Some time in the making, perhaps. It could just be that they were such little threat to me now that I didn’t have that fear and anger in me that I could see them as something more useful than adding to my kill count.

Not that I trusted them further than I could throw them, but my revolver had some distance on it. That caused me some thought.

“You see my shots in the saloon, Wight?”

[I did. You need to refine them.]

“Refine?” I frowned. The normal shots now had a mix of my divine and demonic energy, something the demons on the receiving end didn’t seem to appreciate as much as I did.

[Currently the energy is too mixed, the radiance bursts on contact with demons.]

I tried to replay the events. He was saying it was causing more surface level damage. As the demonic tried to pierce through, the radiance was expanding on impact. Shallow craters to surround the hole bored through the target. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and then adjusted my glasses.

The picture was clear. Form the radiant energy into a tight ball and then surround that with demonic energy. Allow the payload to disperse once within the demon to shred the insides like a miniature bomb. Even without having the gun I my hand, I could manipulate the energy, but it squirmed around like a bucket full of water and oil, and worms.

“It’ll take some practice, but I understand.” I was already walking death to most demons. Being able to cause even worse harm seemed like punching down. It also made me smile.

[Do you, though? Are you considering all consequences, Eric?]

I grimaced toward my patron, still only able to see his crimson eyes and the slight blue sheen of his beak in the darkness we were shrouded by. Head too focused on the imminent conflict, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to admonish me or goad me along. But then it clicked.

“With your granted skills?”

[In time.]

Being able to add divine power to Wight’s granted boons seemed… maddeningly enticing. The revolver shots were easy enough, as they mostly came from my own power these days. Hell Shot and its ilk I had never tried to add my own power to as it seemed redundant—it would complicate things. Now that I had more to add to the equation, it might be worth the second opinion.

//ETA: Five minutes.

[There is something I haven’t told you, Eric.]

I clicked my tongue. There was always something. “Is it about when the possession failed?” He was silent for a moment before his response came.

[Partly. I am no long able to Truly Possess you.]

“I’m too powerful?”

[Too… complicated.]

That felt more like a ‘yes’ that he didn’t want to admit. He was meant to be a few pay grades above the normal Hunter patrons, so to not have the ability to control me must be a dent in his confidence.

“What even happened there? We never really spoke about it?”

[I was present but barely conscious, up until you touched the artefact. Then I had to disperse to avoid being erased.]

“Ah, I apologize.” If I had known he was so close to death, would I have risked it? It was the only way to save myself from turning into a demon, after all.

[No need. We do what needs to be done.]

Most patrons had a dim view of their Hunter, and wouldn’t care to save them if they had the choice. Wight had saved mine on several occasions, whether through our friendship or his trust that we were destined for greater things. I hoped to return the favor someday, although something that could threaten his actual existence made me shiver just to consider.

//We’re arriving, standby.

I spun the revolver into my hand and smiled. Death would have to wait until I was done with it.